Apparatus for pressing or blanking articles from strip material



July 27, 1954, H. c TAYLOR APPARATUS FOR PRESSING OR BLANKING ARTICLESFROM STRIP MATERIAL 3 Sheets-Shee 1 Filed Nov. 7, 1950 IuveMraR July 27,1954 H. c. TAYLOR APPARATUS FOR PRESSING OR BLANKING ARTICLES FROM STRIPMATERIAL 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed NOV. 7, 1950 NIIIUOKTCQTG R I July 27,1954 H. c. TAYLOR APPARATUS FOR PRESSING OR BLANKING ARTICLES FROM STRIPMATERIAL 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Nov. '7, 1950 IN QNTaR M fwdnhu PatentedJuly 27, 1954 APPARATUS FOR PRESSING OR BLANKING ARTICLES FROM STRIPMATERIAL Herbert Cyril Taylor, London, England Application November 7,1950, Serial No. 194,408

3 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for pressing or blanking articlesfrom strip material, and particularly for forming bottle caps from stripmetal foil.

Heretofore, it has been usual to provide such apparatus with driven feedrollers, which feed the strip past a press tool, which is operated bysuitable driving mechanism. Such machines are liable to be both costlyand complex.

The object of the present invention is to provide a sunple and lesscostly apparatus, which may be readily applicable, to machines whichrequire to be supplied with the caps such as bottie-capping machines.

According to this invention, an apparatus for pressing articles fromstrip material is characterised in that the means which drive the presstool are arranged to eifect relative unidirectional step-by-stepmovement between the press tool as a whole and the strip in thedirection of the length of the strip in such manner that the strip isstationary with respect to the tool during the pressing operation.

Preferably, the press tool is arranged to reciprocate bodily in thedirection of the length of the strip, and means are provided forclamping the strip to the tool during that stroke of the reciprocationwhen the pressing operation is taking place, and for releasing the stripduring the other stroke, whereby a unidirectional step-bystep feedingmovement is imparted to the strip.

Means may be provided for restraining the strip against movement afterthe strip has been released by the clamping means.

Preferably, the press tool is adjustably mounted on the apparatus sothat the finished caps may be delivered to a required location on themachine with which the apparatus is to be used. Other features are setout in the following description and claims.

The following is a description of one embodiment of the invention,reference being made to the accompanying drawingin which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the outside of the apparatus, and

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the part of the press tool,

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure' 1, assuming the presstool has been swung into an upright position and,

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the apparatus.

Referring to Figure 1, the reel of metal foil I is rotatably mounted ona spindle ll fixed to a bracket l2 extending up from the main casing I3.The foil is arranged to pass from the reel over a roller I! mounted atthe end of a lever arm 18 pivoted at E9 on a member 20 detachablysecured to the bracket. The lever arm [8 is supported by a coil spring2| which is secured at one end to the arm and at the other to thespindle H. The foil passes between the two lubricating wicks 22, one endof each of which wicks extends into a reservoir 23 for lubricant. Therate of delivery of the lubricant to the foil may be controlled in knownmanner by pressure plates 24 which clamp the wicks between them and thetop of the reservoir, the pressure being regulated by screws 25. Thefoil then extends around a flanged guide roller 26, and through a gap2'! in the side .wall of a casing 28, which surrounds the press tool.The casing may be provided with a transparent cover plate.

The bracket I2 is secured to the main casing I3. Arranged within themain casing I3 (see Fig- 20. .ure 3) is an electric motor 29 whichdrives a cross shaft 30 by means of a belt 3| and pulley wheels 32, 33.A crank shaft 34 is driven from the cross shaft 30 through anautomatically operated one-revolution type clutch 35 and gearing 25 36.The crank shaft is carried in a bearing 31 formed in a slide-casting 38which carries the press tool and which may be turned about the crankshaft axis and attached to the wall of the casing 13 in any of a numberof alternative 3 positions by clamping screws (not shown). By thesemeans, the apparatus is readily adaptable to different machines whichrequire to make use of the caps as they are formed. The web 39 of thecrank shaft is arranged in a recess on the outside 35 of the slidecasting 38 and the pin 40 of the crank shaft projects from this recessinto a bearing 4| which is adjustably mounted within a gap in a slide42, which adjustment is effected by set screws 83, 84. The slide 42 isprovided with an 40 outwardly extending arm 43 on which is mounted onepart (indicated generally at 44) of the press tool. The slide 42 ismounted in a vertically disposed slideway 45 which slide and slidewayare provided with interengaging dovetailed'bearing faces in knownmanner. The slideway 45 is itself provided with a transversely-extendmgslide 46 which is mounted in a slideway 47 fixed to the slide casting38. with a support 48 which carries the other part 50 of the press tool.The support 48 also carries a plate 5| across which the foil extends.With this arrangement, the two partsof the press tool both move in thedirection of the slideway 41, while the part 44 in addition, movestowards and The slide 46 is formed away from the other part 56 in thedirection of the slideway Q5.

The arm 43 has resiliently mounted upon it a gripping member 52 with agripping face 53 formed, for example, from rubber. The gripping memberis provided with two pins (one of which is shown in Fig. 2) whichproject through guide holes in a part 85 attached to the arm 43. It hasalso secured to it an adjustable retaining rod 55 which passes through ahole in the part 85, and is provided with an adjusting nut 56 andlock-nut 5?. This rod is encircled by a spring 58 which at one end abutsa shoulder formed within a bore in the part 85. The other end of thespring abuts the upper face of the gripping member 52. The arrangementis such that when the arm 43 and the press tool part 34 are moveddownwardly and to the left (as viewed in Figure l), the clamping memberreaches the plate 5! when or after the left-hand motion changes toright-hand motion. The press tool parts M and 59 effect the cap-formingoperation during their right-hand motion. During the upward movement ofthe part 44, the strip is released as soon as the gripping member leavesthe plate 5! and thereafter the strip remains stationary. The press toolpart 45 then again descends and engages a fresh part of the foil strip.In this manner, a step-by-step movement is imparted to the foil striprelative to a fixed part of the apparatus, and the punched striptogether with the formed cap passes out through a gap 59 in the sidewail of the press tool casing. It will be appreciated that thespring-supported roller I? will damp out any snatch imparted to the foilbetween the reel and the step-by-step feeding mechanism. The length ofthe web of the crank is selected in accordance with the maximumstep-by-step feed required for the largest cap. The strip passes over aguide rod 60, while the formed caps pass into a chute 8| formed to oneside of a plate 87 which carries the rod Eli and the caps roll from thatchute to the outside of the apparatus. The timing of and the extent ofstep-by-step movement of the strip are adjusted by means of theaforesaid nut 55 on the adjusting rod 56. The rod 6!] and the roller 25are so disposed that the foil strip before and after the pressingoperation is spaced away from the plate 5|.

The upper press tool comprises an embossing member 6!, an annular cutter62, an annular ejecting member 63 within the cutter and a stripping ring64. A compression spring 65 is arranged between the arm 43 and thestripping ring. The stripping ring and annular ejecting member arelocated by pins 66 which pass through slots in the annular cutter 52.The cutter is held, against the arm 43 by means of a hollow plug 61which passes through a hole in the arm and is provided with a threadedportion which engages a threaded bore in the cutter. The hollow plug isinternally threaded and is engaged by the externally threaded sleeve 63through which passes a bolt 69 which engages the embossing member 6|,whereby the position of the embossing member may be adjusted. The lowerpress member comprises a cap forming element having a recess in itsupper face for receiving a resilient pad H which cooperates with theembossing member 6|. The cap forming element is encircled by aresiliently mounted pressure ring [2 which rests on a number of pegs 13extending upwardly from a plate 74, the underside of which rests on theupper end of a spring 75. The lower end of the spring engages a keep '56adjustably mounted on a hollow post 11. The hollow post 11 is secured tothe support 48. A 5 bolt 18 extends upwardly through the hollow post andengages the cap forming element 10. The pressure ring 12 is encircled bya cutting ring 19 rigidly fixed to the bolster 85 by set screws 80. Whenthe two parts of the press tool engage one it another the annular cutter62 passes into the cutting ring 19 thus severing the strip to form adisc. The bottom of the annular cutter 62 engages the pressure ring 12,which parts hold the disc between them, while it is drawn downwardlyover the cap forming element 10. Eventually, the flange of the cap thusformed, will rest on the pressure ring so that when the upper toolelement is released the pressure ring will eject it from the cap formingelement Ill and should E0 the cap tend to adhere to the upper pressmember 44, it will be ejected by the spring action of the ejectingmember 63, while the waste strip will be stripped from the cutter 62 bythe stripping member 6 5. The cap then slides under the action ofgravity over the plate 5i into the aforementioned chute.

I claim: l. An apparatus for pressing articles from strip materialcomprising a part of a crank shaft having a crank pin, a fixed slideway,a slide therein, another slideway on said slide extending transverselythereof, a second slide in said slideway, a press tool part mounted onsaid second slide and engaged by said crank pin, a second 36 press toolpart mounted on the first slide, whereby the two press tool parts haveimparted to them both a movement towards and away from one another and asimultaneous transverse reciprocatory movement to cooperating clampingmeans mounted respectively on the two slides one of them beingresiliently and adjustable in a direction towards the second slide,which two clamping means are adapted to clamp a strip during one strokeof the transverse reciprocation before ithe pressing operation iseffected and to release the strip on the return stroke of thereciprocation.

2. An apparatus for pressing articles from strip material comprising apower driven crank in shaft having a crank pin, an upright slidewayhaving fixed thereto a transverse slide, another slide reciprocably 1nthe upright slideway, a bearing mounted in said latter slide and engagedby said crank pin, a press tool part mounted on said .55 latter slide, asecond press tool part mounted on the first slide, a fixed transverseslideway in which said transverse slide is reciprocably mounted, aresilient gripping member adjustably mounted, on a part attached to thefirst said 5 press stool part so as to be adjustable towards and awayfrom another gripping member on a part moving with the other press toolpart, which gripping member is adapted to grip the strip during onestroke of the transverse reciprocation 3 before the pressing operationis effected and to release the strip on the return stroke of thereciprocation.

3. An apparatus for pressing articles from strip material comprising apower driven crank 7 shaft having a crank pin, an upright slidewayhaving fixed thereto a transverse slide, another slide reciprocablymounted in the upright slideway, a bearing mounted in said latter slideand engaged by the crank pin, a press tool part mounted on the firstsaid slide, a transverse slide- 5 way adjustably mounted on a fixed partof the apparatus so as to be rotatable thereon about the axis of thecrank shaft in which said transverse slide is reciprocably mounted,clamping means comprising a resilient gripping member adjustably mountedon a part attached to the first said press tool part so as to be towardsand away from and to engage a part moving with the other press tool partwhich clamping means are adapted to grip the strip during one stroke ofthe trans- 10 verse reciprocation before the pressing operation iseffected and to release the strip on the return stroke of thereciprocation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,417,609 Koerner May 30, 1922 1,880,662 Barbieri Oct. 4, 19322,076,906 McCordy Apr. 13, 1937 2,186,061 Berg et a1. Jan. 9, 1940

